Climate expert (Jim Hansen) snubs Heathrow protesters: … coal power is the priority danger …

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/01/heathrow-runway-protest-jim-hansen

Climate expert snubs Heathrow protesters

Campaigners are told coal power is the priority danger, not more runways

Robin McKie, science editor
The Observer, Sunday 1 February 2009

Heathrow protestors' hopes of attracting the support of leading climate scientists in their bid to block the airport's proposed third runway have suffered a major setback. Jim Hansen, director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, has told anti-aviation campaigners that their protests will not help the battle against global warming and do not deserve support.

The news is a serious blow for those opposed to airport expansion. Hansen is one of the world's mostly highly regarded climate scientists and has played a key role in other environmental protests. Last year, he helped defend six campaigners charged with criminal damage after occupying the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent. He told the court that their protest was justifiable because the 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted daily by the plant could lead to the extinction of 400 species. The accused were acquitted.

Now eco-campaigners are planning to follow that protest with one aimed at preventing Heathrow's third runway being built. However, Hansen has told them that there is no comparison with the dangers posed by coal power. "I don't think it is helpful to be trying to prevent air flight," Hansen told the Observer. He said he would make no move to help protesters arrested during occupations or disruptions at Heathrow.

Hansen is a world-renowned expert on global temperature fluctuations, and the victim of several unsuccessful attempts by George Bush's administration to silence his warnings about climate change. The climatologist believes the world has only a few years to halt the rise of carbon emissions and has warned America's new president, Barack Obama, that he must act decisively on climate change during his first term or put the planet at risk. Major cuts in carbon emissions must be made worldwide.

…